Time of Need
by The Nomad34
Summary: A terrorist group has a plan to kill every mutant on the planet. The only thing they need is a 17 year old mutant girl to do it. The mutant girl finally seeks help from SHIELD and the Avengers. Many of them don't trust her. Can she change their minds before it's too late? Will they help her in her time of need? Rated T for violence. Please Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

Control. For Bruce Banner, that was a rare word for him to use about himself. He had gotten used to living life with the other guy (who he felt could come out at any moment), yet he still missed having a sense of control. At least now that he was an Avenger he wasn't being hunted by the military. Still-

"One black coffee sir, your food will be here in just a few minutes."

Bruce got his head out of the clouds. He saw a blonde waitress standing over him with his coffee.

" Oh, right. Thank you."

She nodded and walked to the counter of the old diner he was in. How long had he been thinking? He made a mental note to himself to stay focused. Lately, thinking about his past was causing his heartbeat to quicken. As a matter of fact, everything was causing his heartbeat to quicken. An incident hadn't occured with the uncontrollable other guy ever since the Avengers were assembled. That was about eight months ago, and it felt like the hulk was trying desperately to get out. He definitely didn't want that.

Bruce sighed and looked around the diner. It was a nice place, brightly lit thanks to a wall of windows. The other walls were painted a fading yellow colour, which Bruce didn't like as much as the windows. He looked to the counter which a silver color and had red stools. It reminded him of the fifties, which got him to think about Steve.

He hadn't seen Steve Rogers since August, or any of the other Avengers. Nick Fury gave all of them a leave of absence after defeating the Chitauri in May. It was nice to not have to deal with SHIELD and to do some experiments with Tony Stark. They didn't hear from SHIELD until August, where they assembled once again. Fury had told them that once a month they needed to regroup at the hellicarrier. For safety, Bruce had told Fury he wouldn't come to the hellicarrier unless it was necessary. After what the other guy did to the hellicarrier in the spring, Fury agreed.

Bruce hadn't seen Tony since the first meeting at SHIELD, and after what happened in the lab with the other guy, he figured Tony wouldn't want to. The accident had certainly changed things between them, and he wasn't sure if there was any going back to the way things were.

" Focus, Bruce." he thought to himself.

On the Saturday afternoon, the diner wasn't full. There were only a few couples and a family or two. The less crowded a place was, the better. He didn't really expect to see many people. This town only had about 2000 residents.

Wait, what was the name of this town? Carmington? Clarington? Oh well, it was some small town in North (or maybe it was South) Dakota.

Bruce looked down at his coffee. He felt the side of the cup with his hand, then quickly pulled it away. It was nice and hot, just the way he liked it. He took a sip. It tasted really good. He hadn't had a cup of coffee in a long time. He tried avoiding for fear of the other guy coming out, so he ordered decaf. He figured that would help.

Bruce took another sip of his coffee and stared out the window. Just then, a black SUV drove past the diner. It was going extremely fast, so fast that Bruce thought he could actually see the vibrations in his coffee cup. He shook his head and wondered how people who drive like that don't kill anyone. At that, Bruce finished the rest of his coffee.

A few minutes later, Bruce became aware of someone tapping their fingers on a table. It wasn't even very loud, but Bruce could hear it and it annoyed him. A lot. He could feel the anger inside of him rising up. He didn't want it to bubble to the surface. The other guy flashed his green eyes over Bruce's brown ones for a moment. He thankfully was able to calm himself down before anything could happen in the diner.

" What was that?" he thought to himself. He didn't think someone tapping their fingers could nearly unleash the Hulk.

Bruce brought his fingers to his neck. His pulse was going at a rapid pace. What was causing this? He was starting to panic, even though that wasn't exactly helping the heart-rate problem.

Then, the blonde waitress showed up again with his meal and placed it in front of him. She noticed his empty cup. " Would you like some more espresso sir?"

" Espresso!?" Bruce uttered, shocked and terrified. He realized that the caffeine in the coffee was bringing his heart-rate up. " I ordered decaf!" he shouted.

" I'm sorry sir. I'll get you a cup of decaf, on the house." the waitress said carefully, trying not to anger him. She didn't realize how her little mistake could be potentially fatal.

" I- I have to go." Bruce said, throwing on his tan leather coat and rushing for the door.

" Wait!" the waitress called and ran after him. " You forgot to pay for your lunch!"

Bruce dug into his pocket and grabbed a handful of bills. " Here!" he said, thrusting them into the girl's hands, hoping for the right amount, before running out the door into the cold winter air.

He started running down the street, towards a field he saw at the edge of town. If the other guy was going to come out, he wanted to get as far away from any people or buildings as he could. He kept sprinting away, not caring about his pulse, saying a silent thanks that the frigid wind was pushing him forward.

It didn't take him long to reach the field, but even when he got to the edge he kept running. A few feet into the field his knees fell to the snow. He could feel his clothes start to get tighter as the other guy's body pushed his way out. Bruce had to fight it, just for a bit longer. He stood up and staggered farther as some sort of half hulk, so determined to get away.

Finally, Bruce couldn't hold it in anymore. He was pretty far from the town and there weren't any buildings close by. Some people would consider that far enough, but he didn't.

Just then, he saw something in a low point of the field. It was the black SUV he saw speeding past the diner. There was a group of six men standing in a circle around... something. All of them were staring at him, it looked like they were trying to appear intimidating. In reality, they all looked like deer caught in the headlights.

" Oh-no," he thought.

The Hulk was finally out, released in his full fury. He tilted his head back and let out a roar which made the earth shake. The roar broke the men out of their trance. They started sprinting away, leaving behind some lump, which was what they were standing around before.

The Hulk didn't like this. He reached over and picked up the SUV like it weighed nothing. He let out another roar, then threw the SUV at the men. It landed on top of them with a sickening crack.

You would think that at that sound, the other guy would stop. Bruce wished that he could, but the Hulk didn't agree. He had one thing and one thing only on his mind: Smash.

The Hulk bounded over to the SUV and the injured men. The next thing he did... well, some things are better left unsaid. It was basically a blur of anger and destruction before the other guy was breathing heavily, surrounded by bodies and chunks of the leftover SUV.

At that moment, Bruce could really see and understand what the other guy had done. He felt stunned and started to get angry with himself.

" Enough with angst, Bruce!" He thought to himself, as the other guy started to fade away. Bruce knew that after this hulk out, SHIELD would be coming. He'd probably get a dirty look from that one ginger agent who seemed to think that keeping the hulk inside was as easy as remembering to breathe. God, he hated that guy.

Bruce had fully shrunk down, then realized that it was winter and he was naked.

Great.

He looked around and picked up some tattered suits that the men were wearing before his outburst. They were pretty dirty and torn, but they would do for now. As he put them on he noticed a crowd of people at the edge of the field staring at him. Some were frozen still, others held up their phones; they probably recorded videos of this mess.

Even better.

He guessed that SHIELD would be there in a few minutes, so in the mean time he decided to hide out in the low point of the field to where the SUV used be parked. When he took a step towards the low point, he saw most of the crowd of people run for safety. Bruce felt bad that he scared them away, but at least now there were fewer people to gawk at him like some zoo animal.

As Bruce came closer to his intended hiding spot, he noticed the pile that the men were standing around before. It took a second for him to register what the lump was, but once he did he felt an overwhelmingly awful feeling.

The men were standing around the body of a teenage girl.

**Hey there everybody! I want to thank you so much for reading the first chapter of my very first fanfic! I'll try to update as often as I can. If you could leave a review that would be awesome so please do so! Thanks again, bye!**

**- The Nomad34**


	2. Chapter 2

**Woo hoo! Another chapter! Hope you enjoy it.**

" Oh god, did I do that?" Bruce thought in a panic. He was starting to freak out until he remembered the guys in suits did this. So did that mean he killed her killers? Was that a good thing? Bruce was about to analyze the situation more, but decided that there was no time for that.

The doctor in Bruce made him go over to her, to see if maybe he could do something. He crouched down next to her and felt her wrist. There was a pulse!

" She's alive!" he thought, feeling a sense of relief. He checked in the snow around her for any blood, but found none. He assumed she was just unconscious. " What happened to you? he wondered, looking at the girl. She didn't make any movements, which made him think that getting her to a hospital and out of the cold a priority.

He suddenly heard the sound of propellers above him. He looked up to see a helicopter with the SHIELD logo on it.

Bruce sighed. " Let's hope that they aren't too mad at me," he thought, as he picked up the girl and carried her over to where the helicopter had landed.

The door of the helicopter opened to show a face Bruce hadn't seen in months.

" Hey, big guy! How's it going?" said Clint Barton, with a smile on his face. That smile quickly faded when he saw what Bruce was carrying. " Whoa, what happened?" he asked.

" Uhh... it's a long story." Bruce said slowly. " She's still alive though, can we bring her to the hellicarrier's hospital?"

Clint nodded his head, " Yeah, of course. I'm actually here to take you back to the hellicarrier. Fury has to talk to you about... I'm not sure what exactly. Probably something to do with this." He made hand gestures to point all around him. " Oh, and you can tell me this 'long story' of yours on the way there."

Bruce smiled at this. Clint then turned to two large men that stepped out of the helicopter, " Okay boys, you know what to do." They nodded at him and started walking to the crowd at the edge. Bruce shuddered. Knowing SHIELD, that crowd would be in deep trouble with them for what they had just witnessed.

" Do I want to know what they're going to do?" Bruce asked Clint.

Clint sighed, " Probably not." With that, they both got into the helicopter. There were two seats and a bench inside, not including the seat for the pilot. Bruce carefully set down the girl on the bench and sat on the end to make sure she didn't fall off. Clint sat in a seat across from him. Once they sat down Clint gave the pilot a wave, and they took off.

" So," Clint said leaning back in his chair, " What happened this time?"

Bruce looked at his shoes and said " Well, the other guy hadn't been out for some time, someone tapped their fingers on a table, and I had a cup of espresso."

Clint smiled. " You know, usually after I drink espresso I eat some breath mints."

Bruce brought up his head and gave Clint a look. " You're terrible," he said in a flat tone.

This made Clint give Bruce a bigger smile. " I know, but you still love me," he said.

Clint then furrowed his brow. " That doesn't make sense though," he started. " You've gone longer than that without an incident, in environments much more stressful than Carrington, North Dakota."

" That's what this place is called?" Bruce asked. Clint just nodded. Bruce thought about it. " Well, it's been exactly seven months since the accident." he said.

" What accident?" Clint asked, leaning in towards Bruce.

" Nothing!" Bruce said quickly, hoping Clint would drop the subject. Clint didn't.

" Come on, Bruce. Tell me!" he urged.

" I'm not going to, Clint." Bruce said. He thought he sounded like a mother speaking down to a small child.

" Please?"

" No."

" Please?!"

" No!"

" PLEASE?!"

" NO, CLINT! I WILL NOT TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED! IF YOU ASK ME ONE MORE TIME I WILL HULK OUT, TEAR THIS PLANE IN HALF, AND THROW YOU TO THE GROUND! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" Bruce shouted, his skin starting to change colour a little.

Clint sighed and leaned back in his chair. " Crystal clear," he said through gritted teeth.

The rest of the ride was dead silent. Clint thought about what 'the accident' could be, Bruce kept checking the girl's pulse to make sure she was still alive, and the pilot just wondered what on earth he had done to deserve the cruelty of flying people like this.

Bruce kept trying to figure out who the girl was and why the men in suits tried to kill her. She looked harmless. She didn't have money, at least he guessed from her old-looking clothing. He noticed her wearing a grey backpack. He thought about looking inside to see if there were any clues inside, but decided against it.

Eventually, the pilot's voice broke the silence. " We're here," he said, putting no emotion into his voice. With that Clint and Bruce got out of the helicopter and onto the hellicarrier. Bruce found an agent on deck and told him to take the girl to the hospital ward. The agent nodded and started walking away, but he grabbed his arm before he could.

" Let me know when she wakes up," Bruce told him. Once again, the agent nodded and went on his way.

" Come on, let's head inside. I'll bet that everyone else will be glad that you're here," Clint told Bruce, leading him to the inside of the hellicarrier.

They both went inside, and were greeted by the familiar sound of agents fretting about, doing anything and everything in a timely manner. Clint led Bruce to the bridge. This time they found with nervous stares from agents as everyone seemed to stop what they were doing. Bruce hated the feeling of these eyes on him, so he gave them an awkward smile and a small wave before staring at his shoes.

" Let's stop staring and get back to work, shall we?" came the voice of Nick Fury as he entered the bridge. With that, all the agents continued on with what they were doing before. Fury then walked over to Bruce and Clint. As he came towards them, Clint stood a little straighter. Bruce decided it might be good for him to do the same.

" Agent Barton, Doctor Banner," he addressed. " Did you handle the situation in Carrington?" he asked Clint.

" Yes sir," Clint replied, keeping his straight figure.

" Good. You're dismissed, Barton." he said. Clint nodded and walked away. Bruce started to follow him, but Fury stopped him.

" Not you, Doctor. I still need to speak with you," he said. Bruce turned around tentatively, expecting the worst.

" You realize that with this incident, the government doesn't want you anywhere near the public for a while. You're going to have to live here for some time," Fury said.

Bruce stared at him. "You're kidding right? Please tell me you're kidding," he said, but thought that this was a stupid question.

" I never kid," he said, giving him a slight glare. Bruce practically deflated like a balloon.

" How long do I have to stay here?" he asked in despair. He couldn't imagine living in a place like this for god knows how long.

" We don't know yet," Fury replied. Bruce had thoughts of complete peril, but they were interrupted by the sound of a voice that Bruce feared just a little (the other guy did not).

" Welcome back Doctor Banner," said Natasha Romanoff, striding over to where Fury and him were standing.

Seeing Natasha, Fury said, " Excellent, you're here Agent Romanoff. Will you show the doctor to his living quarters?" Coming from Fury, it wasn't a question.

" Certainly sir," Natasha nodded. With that, Fury walked away and Natasha punched Bruce lightly on the shoulder.

" I haven't seen you in months. It would be nice to get a call or something. Would it kill you to check you're email?" She said while Bruce rubbed his shoulder. What Natasha considered " lightly" was very painful for Bruce.

" I'm sorry. I really haven't been on a computer in months. I've done... other stuff." he said.

" Other stuff?" she asked him, a smile on her face. " Well then, walk with me Bruce. I'll show you where your room is and you can tell me all the other stuff you've done." She led him away from the bridge towards his new home.

Bruce followed, walking past some rooms of the hellicarrier he hadn't seen before. It was kind of like having some discoveries of his own and he liked that. However, he hated all the stares he got from passing agents. He even walked past the one ginger agent who gave him that dirty look he hated.

" Well, look who's rooming with us now," the agent said, his voice filled with disgust.

" Walk away now McKenzie, or I will personally make sure you are never able to walk again," Natasha threatened. Agent McKenzie backed away, still giving Bruce another glare before he left.

" Thanks Natasha," Bruce said sheepishly.

Natasha shrugged. " Hey, it's what I do. Plus, I can't stand him either." Bruce smiled at this. Then they continued walking. Natasha lead him to a room Bruce had never seen before. It looked very new and was bare except for a high-tech door in the centre.

" This is pretty cool, I knew you'd be interested. This is a portal to Asgard that allows only Thor to come through," Natasha said. Bruce's eyes widened, eager to figure out its workings.

" How did they do it?" he asked, unsure if he was allowed to touch it and study it.

" Don't ask me. Apparently some people with magic in Asgard figured it out. Tony worked on it on this side. Maybe you could ask him," she said. This caused Bruce to cringe.

" Oh, yeah, sure. I'll do that," he said, worrying that Natasha would catch his lie. Thankfully she said nothing about it.

Natasha then continued to lead Bruce to his new room. Once they made it there she made a little hand gesture as if to say " Ta-daa."

" Home sweet home," she said jokingly. Bruce stared at the door, feeling awkward about going in. Before he could enter, the agent he had seen outside came up to him.

" Doctor Banner, the girl is awake. She's in the hospital wing," he said, keeping a calm voice.

Bruce decided he had to go see her. " Thanks," he said before rushing down the hall.

" Bruce wait!" called Natasha. Bruce stopped and turned around. " You can get to the hospital wing faster if you go this way," she said as she pointed in the opposite direction.

" Oh, thank you," he said again, heading down the other way while Natasha followed him. "Why are you coming?" he asked her.

" I want to know who this person is, and what you did to her to bring her here," she said.

" Please don't ask," was the last thing Bruce said before he and Natasha went to the hospital wing.

**Hey there all of you readers! I'm so sorry it took me a while to update. I'm an awful procrastinater. Anyways, thank you so much to everyone who read my story and a huge thanks to my one commenter, ccgnme! (Don't judge me, I feel proud of this accomplishment) Hope you guys liked this!**

**-The Nomad34**


	3. Chapter 3

**Next chapter is here (after 2 months, I'm so sorry)! **

Natasha was surprised with Bruce. Usually, when they walked together it was always her having to slow the pace to wait for Bruce. This time was different, she was actually having trouble keeping up with him. She assumed he must feel guilty about whoever this girl was in the hospital wing. The concentrated look on Bruce's face stopped her from asking any questions before they got to the room marked "Infirmary 9B" and burst through the double doors, thanks to Bruce. When they arrived they saw a teenage girl with messy blonde hair using a grey backpack as a shield and a small Asian nurse hiding in the corner.

" What happened here?" asked Natasha, now even more curious about Bruce's connection to the girl.

" You may have me this time, but you're never going to keep me here, LOC!" the girl shouted defensively.

" Who's LOC?" asked Bruce.

Natasha carefully walked over to the nurse, " Why are you hiding from her? What did she do?" she asked.

" She- She- She-" was all the nurse could sputter out before placing her head in her hands and making small sobbing noises.

" Get out of here," Natasha told the nurse. She frantically mumbled a thank you and scurried out the door.

Natasha then turned to the girl " How did you break the nurse?" she commanded, her voice filled with ice.

" She was already afraid of her own shadow. I'd expect a lot better from you LOC," the girl spat.

" Okay, who is LOC? Whoever or whatever it is, we don't know it," Bruce exclaimed, working hard to reason with the girl.

" Wait, you're not LOC?" the girl asked, unable to tell if Bruce was lying or not.

" That's what I've tried to tell you," Bruce told her, happy to actually be getting somewhere with her.

" If you aren't LOC, then how do you free the world?" the girl asked carefully.

" What? What does that have to do with anything?" asked Natasha, getting quite fed up with this girl.

" Just answer the question," the girl begged.

It was silent for a moment as Bruce appeared to think. Natasha refused to think about the question. She spent her time looking over the girl, trying to find weak spots if she attacked.

" Don't poke the guy with a bigger gun than you?" Bruce guessed after a few seconds.

Natasha was in shock. " What?! You're going along with her riddle? Are you kidding me?" she said, in complete disbelief.

" Oh my god, you aren't LOC," the girl said, amazed with Bruce's answer. " Oh god, I'm so sorry!"

" Oh, you're not sorry yet, but you will be!" Natasha shouted, finally fed up with her. She started walking over with a chloroform rag she pulled out of her back pocket. Before she could take another step, Bruce jumped in the way. He didn't want this encounter to end badly.

" Wait a minute, let's not do anything crazy," he said, while stretching his arms out like a wall between the two women. " How about we talk and figure this out? I think that will work better than... whatever you were planning." He gave Natasha a look to put away the rag, which she did with an angered look on her face.

" Who are you?" asked the girl, who had finally put down her backpack shield.

" My name is Bruce... and that's Natasha," Bruce told the girl. He hesitated before telling her Natasha's name because as they were speaking she had brought a dagger out of her belt and was playing with it, while giving the girl dirty looks. " What's your name?" he finally asked.

" It's Liana," the girl said quietly, looking at her shoes.

" Liana. That's nice. Hi," Bruce said calmly.

" You have got to be kidding me," Natasha muttered, shaking her head.

" Why don't you say hi to Liana, Nat?" Bruce said, then added through gritted teeth, " And let's put away the knife, shall we?"

Natasha knew that Bruce wouldn't take no for an answer, but she hated that he was treating Liana like she was this harmless, innocent creature who could do no wrong. They didn't know a thing about her and here he was wanting to sit down and have tea with the girl! To show her displeasure, she threw the dagger to the ground and used her foot to move it farther away.

" Hi Liana," she said, putting on a voice so sweet it was unsettling.

" What is this place? Where am I?" Liana asked, now appearing a bit frightened.

" This is the SHIELD hellicarrier. They're a government agency," said Bruce.

Natasha then interjected " That means you're 10 000 feet above the ground, and it would be very easy for you to fall if you were to try anything on me or him."

Bruce shook his head, " Natasha. You. Are. Not. Helping! How about you leave the talking to me, okay?" Natasha grunted and muttered something under her breath, but it looked like she wouldn't say anything more.

" What happened with the nurse in here? She was trying to help you," Bruce said. Natasha was also very curious for Liana's answer.

" Uhh... I said that if she hurt me I would... uhh... make sure she never saw another sight... for as long as she lived?" Liana said awkwardly. All Bruce and Natasha could do was stare with their mouths hanging open.

" I thought she was going to kill me," Liana said defensively. Still, Natasha and Bruce kept staring at her.

" Can you move or something? Please?" she asked, feeling worse and worse every second they stared, like she was a wild animal that had just killed something. Before any of them could say anything more, the doors to the infirmary burst open once more. This time two large men with guns came in, followed by the small Asian nurse.

" That's her! That's the crazy chick!" the nurse shouted at the men with guns, pointing to Liana. They started walking to Liana, guns aiming at her head, before Bruce had to step in the way again.

" Will everybody please calm down!?" Bruce shouted, hating that there was so much confusion and he had to keep stopping people from attacking each other.

Before he could say anything more, the room filled with a blast of bright light. Everyone cried out in pain, covering their eyes. No one could see a thing, but they all fumbled around trying to find the exit. Then as quickly as it came, the lights went to their normal brightness. They wondered what had caused could have caused the light. Their thoughts ended abruptly when they heard a small groan coming out of Liana.

Everyone turned to see her, pinned to the ground by one of the men with guns. Natasha gave Bruce a look. Now there wasn't any hope at all that Natasha would be civil towards Liana.

After taking a long breath, Bruce said a bit calmly, " Why don't we take Liana to a conference room so she can explain her situation to everybody? And can we do this calmer please? I can't handle all the stress of you people."

At that moment Natasha felt bad for Bruce. She knew he hated being in stressful environments, and now that Fury had to keep him here because of his outburst there was no escape from it. SHIELD was always stressful, especially for people like Bruce. She decided then to make it her priority being calm around Bruce. However, she didn't promise to be nice to Liana. She turned to her, knelt next to her, and glared.

" Girl, you've got some serious explaining to do," she said viciously.

Liana just sighed, " Yeah, I know," she said dejectedly.

**I'm so sorry that it took me so long to update. The reason that I haven't been writing for such a long time is because I have recently discovered a show that has absorbed my life - cough cough Supernatural cough cough - and I didn't even think about writing. I'm really sorry about that but I promise that I will keep the story coming. I'm not sure how fast I'll finish chapters but they are coming! Also I'm kind of wondering if my OC Liana is coming across to Mary Sue- like. If she is, please let me know how I can fix that. I would like to thank the two reviews for chapter 2 - Asylum94 and adie, plus a huge thanks to everyone who followed/favorited/read. Every review and anything else I get is greatly appreciated and helps me write. Anyway, that's all for this chapter, see you later people, I love you all!  
**

**- The Nomad34**


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